Login | March 17, 2025
Greenland now much easier to reach
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: March 17, 2025
It’s during these long winter months that I truly let the wanderlusting side of myself run free.
And that’s when I start dreaming up all sorts of crazy adventures in exotic destinations that can be carried out during the upcoming summer.
Now eventually, when reality - along with a glance at my bank account - sets in, I temper those dreams with a bit more logic such that I can formulate a hit list which could legitimately fit into our yearly travel budget/calendar.
But I do have to say that ever since I visited one particular destination back in 2014, I’ve always strained to put it on the following year’s hit list.
Yet inevitably, each year due to the complexities of getting there and the subsequent expensive air connections, it’s always been the first destination casualty to get shuffled back into the “maybe next year” category.
So here I am again in the depths of winter 2025, pondering for the umpteenth time the logistics of getting to this far-flung destination.
And suddenly…out of nowhere a ray of hope has emerged.
Indeed, Greenland’s long been a remote and tough destination to reach (I spent 3K+ getting there back in 2014), but that’s all going to change in June of 2025 when a quick and painless four-hour flight will carry US travelers directly into Nuuk, Greenland, the picturesque capital of the largest island on the planet (2.16 million kilometers in size).
I just recently discovered that United Airlines will make available twice weekly flights departing from Newark Liberty International Airport to Nuuk’s brand spanking new international airport, a facility which just opened in November 2024.
Its new 2,200-meter runway can accommodate larger planes like Air Greenland’s Airbus A330neo, all of which means that the airport can support direct flights from major international destinations.
The new Nuuk airport also includes a modern terminal facility that can vastly increase the number of passengers it can accommodate at any one time.
That upgrade in capacity means the Nuuk airport can handle roughly 800 passengers per hour, streamlining the facility’s international arrivals and departures.
Now in the past, like when I first visited Greenland some 11 years ago, I had to fly from JFK to Reykjavík, then from Reykjavík to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, then from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk.
Back then Kangerlussuaq, an old WW2 US Air Force base (whose runway is still rather short), was the only airport in Greenland big enough to permit mid-sized jets to land.
Problem for US travelers was that to get to Kangerlussuaq we either had to fly in from Iceland or Denmark.
And the Nuuk airport?
Well, back in those days it could only support turbo-prop planes - and its cozy little terminal was nothing more than a cubby shelter that loomed high up on a hill overlooking the outskirts of the city.
Okay, so as of June 14, 2025, United Airlines will offer a seasonal, twice weekly flight between Newark (EWR) and Nuuk, Greenland (GOH).
This 1,849-mile flight will operate in accordance with the following schedule: UA80 Newark to Nuuk departing 11:30 a.m. arriving 6:45 p.m. and UA81 Nuuk to Newark departing 9 a.m. arriving 10:30 a.m. The eastbound flight should take around 4:15 hours and operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays, while the westbound flight should take around 5:30 hours and operate on Wednesdays and Sundays.